The Lost Children

On the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia, thousands of Romani people live in the most desperate poverty to be found anywhere in Europe. Some are war refugees from the Balkans, and some have lived this way for generations. Ignored by the state, and with no home to return to, they are essentially non-persons with no country or rights to speak of. This community lives at the mercy of local slumlords, and they are denied access to even the basic amenities the rest of the first world takes for granted water, electricity, and education. Relegated to the informal economy, what little money that is brought in comes mainly from scavenging and begging. The Lost Children follows the story of one of these little girls seven year-old Sevdi and her family as they struggle to carve out a stable existence in the midst of this deprivation. (Norsk Filminstitutt)